All of these are more or less readable, in my opinion, and at least one of them is generally very high regarded by most people. I’m just not in the mood for any of them very often.

Regency Buck 

Why Do I Like It? Tomboy termagent clashes with clever autocrat, in a loose riff on P&P, complete with the world’s most obvious Wickham knockoff. There’s some fun period stuff, including a guest appearance by Beau Brummell which made me wish he were the main focus of the book. Some of the 3D chess going on between Autocrat and Wickham Knockoff is interesting, once you realize that’s what’s going on. Also, there’s a thrilling curricle race. 

Words of Warning: First and worst of all Heyer’s autocrat/termagent pairings. The Beau and “Prinny” put the fictional supporting cast completely in the shade. 

April Lady 

What Do I like About It? The married lead couple, who are madly in love with each other but each believe the other to be indifferent, are actually pretty sweet. There’s some interesting period detail. 

Words of Warning: It has a very cringey Big Misunderstanding plot about the heroine’s debt management problems and inability to communicate with her husband. The only appealing supporting characters are one young woman who’s read too many melodramas, and one knockoff of a Friday’s Child character. There is a wealthy (apparently Gentile) moneylender mockingly referred to by other characters as “Jew” King. (Note: there are almost certainly references to Jewish moneylenders outside of this book and The Grand Sophy but they tend to be fleeting and I couldn’t tell you for certain which books contain them without alot more digging.)

A Civil Contract 

What Do I Like About It? It’s a remix of Sense and Sensibility under different names, where a genderbent Mrs. Jennings is Elinor’s nouveau riche dad, Marianne is Elinor’s posh friend rather than her sister, and they’re both in love with a more proactive and good-looking version of Edward Ferrars, who’s just mustered out of the military to look after the flat-broke estate he’s inherited. He marries the homely, practical Elinor analogue for pragmatic reasons, and they gradually build a life together. Meanwhile, a jaded aristocrat who feels like a cross between Henry Crawford and Colonel Brandon jumps on the Marianne-shaped grenade. Also, we get to see the surprisingly interesting financial fallout from the Battle of Waterloo. 

Words of Warning: This is almost an anti-romance in its portrayal of an unsophisticated woman finding contentment in looking after the clever, oversensitive man she’s had a crush on for years. There’s a couple of actors I like to visualize as the male lead, and when I’m into them I enjoy the Civil Contract male lead as well…at the hurt/comfort level that I think he is supposed to be enjoyed at. When I’m not into those actors, I think the Civil Contract guy is a tedious, self-pitying snob. This is a very well-executed book with a fun supporting cast but you really have to be in the mood for it. 

Cousin Kate 

What Do I Like About It? It feels like Heyer caught part of Brides of Dracula on the telly, decided the blonde guy really was just insane and his mom was the real villain, and dumped a standard issue Sensible Heyer Heroine into the plot, along with a love interest who was probably meant as a standard issue Hard But Decent Heyer Hero. Although, I can kind of picture him as the vampire hunter from Brides of Dracula if I squint real hard. (No, I have no evidence this is actually how she came up with this particular plot. This is what it feels like to me.)

Words of Warning: This is not a sensitive portrayal of people with mental health issues, and some readers feel like the plot spins its wheels a bit too much. My main problem is that with Heyer, the characters are always the plot, and although the big four in this novel (heroine, hero, villainess, crazy guy) are fine, the supporting characters don’t really pull their weight.

Lady of Quality 

What Do I Like About It? There’s some fun banter and the characters have wonderfully outrageous names, as if Heyer knew this was going to be the last Regency she wrote and felt like using up all her favorite weird Regency names. 

Words of Warning: It’s basically a retread of Black Sheep with more annoying characters, notably Generic Butch Snarky Aristo in place of the more mischievous male love interest from Black Sheep.